Chapter Five – Whiskey Gingers
~Shontae~
Twenty minutes later, I walked into the buzzing restaurant and shimmied between tightly packed seats, hoping not to bump anyone with my ass. I mean, I wasn’t carrying a dump truck, but ya girl got cakes! Enough to disrupt a drink or two.
“She made it!” Cadence, who had just gotten back from a trip to Belize with a new tattoo weaving across her shoulder, called out.
I pointed to the intricate design and gave her a thumbs up as I approached. “Caddy! That is hot!”
The woman was always flying around the world, taking part in new adventures. It was a wonder we ever saw her. But as fast as she moved, when I needed her, Cadence always was there. She stood up, throwing her arms out to me as I walked around the table to greet her.
The scent of ash and clay filled my nose, and as irritating as that combination sounded, it was exactly what I needed.
It was home. When I first met Cadence, I wasn’t a fan of it at all.
But after so much time spent together, the scent was one I looked forward to.
It took me back to those late nights bonding with my girls, to the days of trying to understand my abilities and being accepted by a supernatural community because my girls vouched for me. It was everything I needed and more.
I took another deep inhale of her before our hug broke and we moved to sit. Tay was there, arms wide open, as if I didn’t just see her. But I hugged her anyway, because she gave one of the best hugs in town!
Once I was settled and had sipped from the water with lemon already sitting in front of me, I let out a deep sigh and relaxed into my seat.
“Girl, look at you in that dress! Got all eyes on you. And those thighs,” Tay cheered with her. “Finally, we see you outside of your workout gear. This is what we want!”
“Or not on television! You’re a real person!” Cadence clapped as she referred to my recent wins in local media. “Let me order you a drink.”
“Y'all are so dramatic!” I waved my hand. “But no, thank you, I can’t drink tonight. I have to get up early to knock out some work before my flight.”
“Oh yeah, she is going big time now! No more local news channels. Our girl is national!” Tay lifted her own drink. “I’ll drink extra for you.”
“As if you need a reason to drink extra.” Cadence poked Tay in the shoulder. “Girl, this is already your second drink of the night.”
“Was I that late?” I looked at my watch. “I could have sworn we said we would meet at eight.”
“No, we got here a little early. You know it's hard to get a table in here, even if you have a reservation, which we had. We just didn’t want any issue, and they have a rule that over half of your party has to be here in order to be seated or you risk losing your reservation time and have to wait in line. I was not about to be doing all that.” Tay explained.
“Damn, I didn’t know this place was so popular. That explains why they have the tables packed in here like that. I had to squeeze through the damn tables to get over here.” I looked around the restaurant. “This has to be some kind of fire code violation, right?”
“Oh, I’m sure it is, but what choice did they have?
” Tay rolled her eyes. “The food is so damn good, but the wait time was out of this world. I heard people were going online to review-bomb them because they couldn’t get in.
Apparently, they’re also looking to move out of this location into a bigger spot. ”
“Bad idea.” Cadence shook her head and sucked her teeth.
“Location is everything! And they have prime real estate! It’s close to everything and convenient for that downtown foot traffic.
Think of all the hungry nine to fivers just looking for a good place to unwind.
If they move, most of the people griping about how they can’t get in will not follow them! ”
“You got a point there. Remember the Thai spot I was obsessed with? They moved an hour away, and as much as I think about going there, I never do. It’s just too far out the way!
” I huffed. “Like I’m still mad I can’t get that Tom Yum Goong whenever I want!
It was the best I’d ever had. Tasted like someone’s grandmother was back there, whipping that food up! ”
“Exactly my point. And I remember you eating that stuff so much, you damn near made yourself sick!” Cadence laughed, and my mind immediately went back to the late night calls to ask her to magically produce some antacids for me. She made fun of me for weeks to follow, but she did it!
“That was the moment I knew I was too damn old to be playing with my gut like that. I still have flashbacks!” I fanned myself. “Never again.”
“The same thing will happen here. The restaurant will move, and people will only switch from complaining about wait time to complaining about how far away it is and how they should have stayed where they were. Suddenly, they’ll all think the wait wasn’t that bad.
Just think about it. How many Black-owned businesses have we seen rise and fall because they were trying too hard to appease people?
What they should do is lean into the exclusivity angle.
Good food that is worth waiting for! Get testimonials from customers saying it's worth it. Offer a To Go option for those who want to grab and go. They don’t even have that option here, and they’re missing out! ”
“Oh damn, you made her put on her marketing and business development hat!” I laughed at Tay. “You know you’re playing with fire, bringing up any kind of business practices. She’s going to bill of for this!”
Cadence's focus in school was on studying marketing and business development. Being from one of the oldest fae families, she’d come from money, but she was interested in learning how to grow that money through both personal and business investments.
It was something of an obsession. She’d built several businesses in her young career, most of them startups she would then sell off to larger corporations.
It worked well for her, because she didn’t want to stick around too long.
Recently, she’d told me about a guy she'd met who was in the same line of work.
The only difference was, instead of building companies to sell, he flipped failing businesses.
He would save business owners who were on the brink of bankruptcy and give them an easy exit from the responsibilities of running their business.
It sounded like an honorable thing at face value, and I thought it would be a great fit for Cadence.
She’d been ready to get into business with him, splitting the cost of buying out the former owners and sharing the profits of the sale.
She would use her marketing genius to help him earn a bigger payout on the other side.
Unfortunately, he purchased a failing gym before they could officially start their partnership and fell off her radar.
She’d seemed upset about it, but more so because she hadn’t quite figured the guy out before he vanished.
Tayvion and I both benefited from having her in our corner as well, because she often gave us tips on how to grow in our own businesses. She didn’t take a fee, but if Tay kept pushing her, she might start charging us!
“Damn, Caddy, go talk to them. Maybe you can help them avoid a disaster,” Tayvion suggested. “I’m sure they would be really grateful for whatever help they can get, especially from someone as wise as you are!”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but no, thanks.” Cadence shook her head.
“I don’t offer unsolicited advice to strangers anymore.
I don’t know if you remember it, but that shit bit me in the ass last time.
Remember that baker? I tried to tell her about how to market her stuff.
She went in the opposite direction, determined to prove me wrong, then blasted me online when her shit failed.
Man, if I hadn’t come back with the receipts of what I told her to do, that could have ruined my reputation!
Now, I only give advice when it’s asked and paid for! ”
“I know that’s right!” The sound of our high five echoed in the restaurant. “I follow the same rule. Keep my mouth zipped and my opinions to myself!”
“Exactly! You get me, Shon. How many people do you see struggling with their health? Sure, you know what they could do to make things better, but you keep them lips zipped!” She lifted her drink as the server placed a fresh water and a menu in front of me before signaling that he would give us a few more minutes before we ordered.
“Well, that’s different!” Tayvion exclaimed.
“How is it different?” I asked as I started reviewing the menu in front of me.
“Cadence is talking about business strategies, not bodies. It’s rude to comment on someone’s physical appearance,” she explained.
“You never know what someone is going through, and you can’t just assess someone’s health by looking at them.
Hell, there are some skinny people out there way unhealthier than any big person you could ever see. ”
“Maybe that’s true, but it also goes with everything else in life.
You can look at anything from the outside and assume you know any better than the person going through it,” Cadence added.
“Don’t you think it would be rude to comment on someone’s business and insinuate they haven’t considered all the things you’re saying to them?
It's like walking up and saying, hey, I know you somehow managed to create this business, open it, and get it packed, but I think there are better things you can be doing. How about you close up shop and let me teach you? You might not think so, but people take that as you saying they are inept, and no one enjoys being called incompetent. Trust me, I know.”
“Well hell, let me keep my mouth shut.” Tayvion laughed before taking a long sip from her drink. “You know what, I need to figure out my order.”
We all laughed but zeroed in on the menu. I’d chosen my meal just in time for the server to return and take our orders.